I'm making hand-drawn 2D sprite animation for my game. I chose this because I know I can make this myself.

But I'm thinking it might be worth it to me to hire someone to create some of my animations. At the very least, I want to look into this; see what would be involved, what kind of prices and turnaround time could be involved, etc.

I'm aware of sites where I can hire freelancers to make content; Upwork, Freelancer, and sometimes there are even talented people on fiverr.
But I'm wondering about working with an actual company. I'm pretty sure those exist, but I don't know where to find them, especially any within my scope. (I'm not looking for an animated short.)
Maybe I'm wrong in my pre-conceptions, but I think perhaps it would be easier to work with a dedicated company than with a freelancing website.

So does anyone know where I could find such companies? And perhaps if anyone here has any advice for an amateur such as myself to help me avoid potential mistakes in trying to outsource such content?

Marscaleb said:
I'm wondering about working with an actual company. I'm pretty sure those exist, but I don't know where to find them

You can try Wikipedia's List of Video Game Developers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_developers​. You can try https://gamedevmap.com/​ and you can try Gamasutra's Contractors page, https://gamasutra.com/contractors/contractor_display.php​​

You can also read the credits of a video game and then look up names of individuals and studios via web search and LinkedIn.

I was asking about an animation studio though, not a game developer studio. I don't exactly have enough clout to be able to ask another game developer to stop what they are going and make assets for me; I'm looking for a company that focuses on making assets for other companies.

Also some of your links are dead.

You want an animation studio for games, you said. That's a game developer. You will have to work to figure out which ones do animation.

I assumed you wanted someone whose services are available for pay. If you wait until they don't have a project, you're just wasting time. You don't call a plumber and ask them to stop what they are doing to fix your plumbing. You call them and they fit you into their schedule. A professional animation studio is always interested in hearing about projects, even when they're busy.

I tried all three links before I posted them. They are not dead. For some reason, the Gamasutra link doesn't work when you click it, but it does take you to Gamasutra and you can just click Gamasutra's Contractors tab.

You really can't find them?

It's not that hard, I get a message almost once every few weeks on Linkedin from some outsourcer company that asks if they can help me in any way.

Just go to google or linkedin and look for outsourcers. They are always out there seeming pretty desperate for work.

Maybe because we are a registered company, idk.

Tom Sloper said:

You want an animation studio for games, you said. That's a game developer. You will have to work to figure out which ones do animation.

I assumed you wanted someone whose services are available for pay. If you wait until they don't have a project, you're just wasting time. You don't call a plumber and ask them to stop what they are doing to fix your plumbing. You call them and they fit you into their schedule. A professional animation studio is always interested in hearing about projects, even when they're busy.

Okay; I see where you are coming from, and that makes sense.
Still, as a solo indie developer I somehow don't think I could call up someone like SquareEnix and ask them to make content for my game.
But aren't there companies that specialize in building stuff for other studios? Not everyone is interested in building content for other studios. How would I know who is?

…And if I did contact someone, do you think I should describe myself as an indie developer or a solo developer? I want to be honest but I also want to sound competent.

GeneralJist said:

You really can't find them?

It's not that hard, I get a message almost once every few weeks on Linkedin from some outsourcer company that asks if they can help me in any way.

Just go to google or linkedin and look for outsourcers. They are always out there seeming pretty desperate for work.

Maybe because we are a registered company, idk.

From time to time I've been contacted by people offering to spruce up my website. I'll tell you right now those aren't people I would work with. I have gotten a message or two from people offering vague non-specific business support. I'm pretty sure I could get more out of my money by just burning it. Oh yes, and after registering my website I once got an offer from someone offering to partner with gaming developers that I eventually realized was talking about the kind of “gaming” they do in Las Vegas.
Suffice it to say, I don't believe I've ever been contacted by anyone who has any idea what I'm trying to do.
But hey, if you know of anyone you could actually recommend to create content for an indie game studio, hook me up.

If I just look up outsourcing companies on google, how would I know if one is actually worth my time or not? (and I worth theirs?)
The only outsourcing companies I know of are ones I know from my day job, and while there is “drawing” and “programming” that we get from them, well, experience with AutoCAD and CNC machines doesn't fit here.

Marscaleb said:
as a solo indie developer I somehow don't think I could call up someone like SquareEnix

Of course you're not going to contact a big major publisher and ask them to do development work for you. Finding a developer is not a matter of just a couple minutes' work. You have to WORK at it. You have to sift through the long list on Wikipedia or GameDevMap, eliminating the ones that are not what you're looking for. You find a company name, you look them up, you read their websites until you find one that might be suitable and then you contact them. Most of them will still turn out to be not what you're looking for. Welcome to the life of a game producer! Once you get in touch with a developer and find that they aren't what you're looking for, or they are but they're not available or they're too expensive, you can ask them for leads.

Marscaleb said:
If I just look up outsourcing companies on google, how would I know if one is actually worth my time or not? (and I worth theirs?)

You have to WORK at it. A good producer doesn't just hire the first developer he comes across. He checks them out. Check out the games that developer worked on. Like I said in my first response, you look at game credits. You also contact the producers of games the developer worked on and you ask how that developer was to work with. Were they responsive, were they timely, did they do quality work, were they reasonably priced. It's called “vetting.”

As a solo dev, you probably have a small budget, so don't aim too high. In your original post, you said “I think perhaps it would be easier to work with a dedicated company than with a freelancing website.” Yes, you'll get better results, but it's hard to find what you're looking for, you have to work at it, you have to overcome your self-doubts.

I just got another communication his week from an outsourcing studio.

I don't feel comfortable recommending them or any other studio because I don't really know them.